BOTANIC MATERIA MEDICA, 229 
cum contains wax resin, coloring matter, fixed 
oil, and an active principle called capsaicin, 
which occurs in colorless crystals, volatile when 
exposed to the air. Capsicum is stimulant, 
stomachic, and rubefacient in its effects. Dose 
of the powder 2 to 8 grains, and recognized as 
officinal in form of infusion, tincture, and ole- 
oresin. 
Cardamonum, Cardamm Elettaria Carda- 
monum,.—Natural order Zingiberaceze. Native 
of the Malabar coast, and cultivated in India. 
The Cardamon has a tuberous root running 
horizontally, which sends up a number of simple, 
smooth, shining green stems, which attain a 
height of 5 or 6 feet, adorned with a number of 
green sheath-like leaves, averaging in length 
_ from 9 to 24 inches. The flowers occur in 
panicles, the petioles of which arise from the 
base of the stem. The calyx of the flower is 
tubular in form and toothed, Fruit ovoid or 
oblong in shape, and from 3 to # of an inch long 
consisting of dried carpels, longitudinally wrin- — 
kled and of a creamy-white color; internally the 
fruit if%made up of three cells with a central 
placenta with as many as twenty, seeds, which 
are of a brown-red color, somewhat angular in 
shape, with a depression at the hilum. The 
Fructus Cardamom and seeds are the parts used 
- in medicine; they have an agreeable aromatic 
odor, and an aromatic, pungent taste. They 
contain starch, volatile and fixed oils. Carda- 
mon fruit, misnamed seed, occur in commerce 
as the large, medium and small cardamon of late 
years they are known in commerce as long shorts 
and long-longs; these being somewhat larger 
